Antimicrobial Effects of ZnPc Delivered into Liposomes on Multidrug Resistant (MDR)-Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is one of the most important global health problems. Multidrug resistant (MDR)-tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) resistant to the first line drugs (rifampin-isoniazid). Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) has reemerged as an alternative against resistant bacteria. In this work, we synthetized liposomes of Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and Cholesterol as carrier of ZnPc. The ZnPc-liposomes photodynamic activity was tested in two strains of M. tuberculosis, a sensible (ATCC 27294) and MDR-M. tuberculosis. As result, both strains were inactivated by ZnPc-liposomes. The photodynamic activity was dependent of incubation time and light dose supplied. The photokilling activity was considerably higher for sensible strain than for MDR one.